Rear Structure of a Pickup Track

This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2025-015627 filed on Jan. 31, 2025, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety including the specification, claims, drawings, and abstract.

This specification discloses a rear structure of a pickup track.

In general, a vehicle body is supported by a suspension. The suspension has an absorber for damping vibration. An upper end of an absorber of the rear suspension (hereinafter referred to as a “rear absorber”) is connected to a wheel arch of the rear wheel.

Naturally, the vibration from the road surface is transmitted to the vehicle body via the rear suspension. Here, the rear absorber is inclined such that, as it extends upward, it advances inward in the vehicle width direction. Therefore, when a load is input from the rear absorber to the rear wheel house, there is a possibility that the rear wheel house will deform so as to tilt inward in the vehicle width direction.

Therefore, conventionally, a cross member has been disposed between a pair of left and right rear wheel houses. By arranging the cross member between the pair of left and right rear wheel houses, the rigidity of the vehicle body around the rear wheel house is improved, and deformation of the rear wheel house can be effectively prevented.

However, such the cross member arrangement structure cannot be applied to a pickup track. That is, as shown in PATENT LITERATURE 1, the pickup truck has a substantially box-shaped cargo bed at the rear of the vehicle. In the case of the pickup truck, the deck of the cargo bed has a substantially flat shape with little unevenness in order to sufficiently secure the capacity of the cargo bed. In other words, in the case of the pickup truck, the cross member cannot be disposed between the pair of left and right rear wheel houses. As a result, in the conventional pickup truck, deformation of the rear wheel house cannot be sufficiently prevented.

Therefore, this specification provides a rear structure of a pickup truck capable of suppressing deformation of a rear wheel house.

1 2013 67325 PATENT LITERATURE: JP-A

A rear structure of a pickup track disclosed in this specification, the rear structure comprises: a rear wheel house bulging upward from a deck of a cargo bed at both ends of the cargo bed in a vehicle width direction; a rear suspension having a rear absorber and supporting a vehicle body; an absorber R/F welded to the rear wheel house and to which the rear absorber is attached; and a strainer welded to the rear wheel house and the deck and connecting the rear wheel house and the deck.

In this case, the rear structure may further comprises a floor side member extending in a vehicle front-rear direction and passing through a lower side of the strainer, wherein the strainer may be further welded to the floor side member.

The absorber R/F may have a substantially L-shaped cross section extending from a circumferential surface of the rear wheel house to a side surface of the rear wheel house and conforming to a shape of the rear wheel house, and the strainer may have a substantially L-shaped cross section in which a portion along the side surface of the rear wheel house and a portion along the deck are connected to each other.

In this case, the absorber R/F may have one or more beads extending in a direction intersecting the vehicle front-rear direction, and the strainer may have one or more beads extending in a direction intersecting the vehicle front-rear direction.

The absorber R/F may have a first bead protruding toward a vehicle inner side, and a pair of second beads protruding toward a vehicle outer side on both sides in the vehicle front-rear direction of the first bead, the strainer may have a third bead protruding toward the vehicle outer side, and a pair of fourth beads protruding toward the vehicle inner side on both sides of the third bead in the vehicle front-rear direction, and a fastening portion for attaching the rear absorber may be disposed in each of the pair of second beads.

According to the technology disclosed herein, the rear wheel house is reinforced with an absorber R/F and a strainer. Therefore, deformation of the rear wheel house is effectively prevented without providing a cross member between the pair of rear wheel houses.

1 FIG. 1 FIG. 2 FIG. 3 FIG. 10 10 26 26 34 18 Hereinafter, a rear structure of a vehicle will be described with reference to the drawings.is a perspective view of a rear portion of a vehicle. The vehicle is a pickup truck having a cargo bedbehind a cabin (not shown).shows the vicinity of the front corner of the cargo bedof the pickup truck.is a view in which only an absorber reinforcement(hereinafter abbreviated as “absorber R/F”) and a strainerare extracted.is a cross-sectional view of a periphery of a rear wheel housecut in a vehicle width direction.

10 10 16 10 14 12 10 18 10 The cargo bedhas a substantially box shape. That is, the cargo bedincludes a front wallseparating the cabin and the cargo bed, a pair of side walls, an openable and closable tailgate (not shown), and a deckconstituting a floor surface of the cargo bed. Rear wheel housesare disposed at both ends of the cargo bedin the vehicle width direction.

18 12 20 18 18 20 18 20 18 14 12 a b 3 FIG. The rear wheel houseprotrudes upward from the deckalong the circumferential surface and the inner side surface of the rear wheel. Therefore, the rear wheel househas a circumferential surfacealong the circumferential surface of the rear wheeland an inner side surfacealong the inner side surface of the rear wheel. In order to simplify the description, in, the rear wheel house, the side wall, and the deckare all shown as one connected element. However, in practice, these elements may be constructed by joining a plurality of press parts.

20 18 22 20 22 22 22 24 24 18 24 20 18 A rear wheelis disposed in a lower space of the rear wheel house. A rear suspensionis attached to the rear wheel. The rear suspensionsupports the vehicle body. The rear suspensionalleviates the impact from the road surface. The rear suspensionand the rear absorberare damping devices for damping vibration of a suspension spring (not shown). The upper end of the rear absorberis fastened to the rear wheel housevia a fastening member. The load transmitted from the road surface to the rear absorbervia the rear wheelis input to the rear wheel house.

26 18 24 26 32 24 26 18 18 18 26 28 30 28 30 28 30 24 30 33 30 30 30 18 33 33 18 3 FIG. 1 FIG. 2 FIG. 2 FIG. a b An absorber R/Fis welded to a portion of the rear wheel houseto which the rear absorberis fastened. The absorber R/Fis a panel member that reinforces the fastening portion(see) of the rear absorber. As shown in, the absorber R/Fis curved in a substantially L-shape along the circumferential surfaceand the inner side surfaceof the rear wheel house. As shown in, the absorber R/Fhas a first beadand a second beadextending in the vehicle width direction. The first beadis a bead that protrudes toward the vehicle inner side. A total of two second beadsare provided on both sides of the first beadin the front-rear direction. The second beadis a bead that protrudes toward the vehicle outer side. A fastening hole (not shown) for fastening the rear absorberis formed in the second bead. A weld nut(see) is fixedly disposed on the upper surface (i.e., the surface facing the inside of the vehicle) of the second beadso as to be concentric with the fastening hole. Since the second beadprotrudes toward the vehicle outer side, a slight space is formed between the second beadand the rear wheel house. Therefore, since the weld nutis located inside this space, interference between the weld nutand the rear wheel houseis prevented.

34 18 34 18 12 34 10 34 18 18 12 b A straineris also welded to the rear wheel house. The straineris a panel member that reinforces the periphery of the boundary between the rear wheel houseand the deck. The straineris disposed on the cargo bed. The straineris curved in a substantially L-shape along the inner side surfaceof the rear wheel houseand the deck.

34 36 38 36 38 36 38 The strainerhas a third beadand a fourth bead. The third beadis a bead that protrudes toward the vehicle outer side. A total of two fourth beadsare provided on both sides of the third beadin the front-rear direction. The fourth beadis a bead that protrudes toward the vehicle inner side. It should be noted that a position in the front-rear direction of the third bead, which protrudes toward the outside of the vehicle, is substantially the same as a position in the front-rear direction of the first bead, which protrudes toward the inside of the vehicle. And a position in the front-rear direction of the fourth bead, which protrudes toward the outside of the vehicle, is substantially the same as a position in the front-rear direction of the second bead, which protrudes toward the inside of the vehicle.

40 12 40 40 40 12 12 34 3 FIG. 2 FIG. A pair of floor side membersare fixed to the underside of the deck. The floor side memberis a frame member extending in the vehicle front-rear direction. In the present example, as shown in, the floor side memberhas a substantially hat-shaped cross section that opens upward. The flange portion of the floor side memberis welded to the underside of the deck. In this example, the deckis disposed at a position that passes below the strainer. Note that black circles inindicate an example of a welded portion.

34 26 34 18 26 34 18 26 Here, the upper end of the straineris located above the lower end of the absorber R/F. Therefore, the upper end portion of the strainer, the rear wheel house, and the lower end portion of the absorber R/Fare stacked in the thickness direction. In this example, the upper end portion of the strainer, the rear wheel house, and the lower end portion of the absorber R/Fare welded to each other.

34 40 34 12 40 The inner edge of the strainerin the vehicle width direction is located directly above the inner end portion of the floor side memberin the vehicle width direction. In this example, the inner end portion of the strainerin the vehicle width direction, the deck, and the inner end portion of the floor side memberin the vehicle width direction are welded to each other.

3 FIG. 3 FIG. 24 18 24 18 18 18 1 Next, the reason why such a structure is formed will be described. As shown in, the rear absorberis attached to the rear wheel housein a posture slightly inclined inward in the vehicle width direction. Therefore, the load F input to the rear absorberfrom the road surface is transmitted to the rear wheel houseas an obliquely upward load. When such an obliquely upward load F is input to the rear wheel house, the rear wheel housemay be inclined in the vehicle width direction inward direction, that is, in the direction of the arrow Ain.

18 50 12 18 52 18 50 52 18 4 FIG. Here, in order to prevent such inclination of the rear wheel house, conventionally, as shown in, it has been proposed to dispose the cross memberabove the deckand between the pair of rear wheel houses. In addition, when the vehicle is not a pickup truck, it is proposed to dispose an upper cross memberthat connects upper portions of the pair of rear wheel houses. In such a configuration, the two cross membersandfunction as protruding bars, and can effectively prevent the rear wheel housefrom falling inward.

4 FIG. 10 52 50 12 10 50 12 12 10 18 However, the configuration shown inis effective for ordinary passenger cars, but is difficult to apply to pickup trucks. That is, since the cargo bedof the pickup truck is an open type, the pickup truck cannot be provided with the upper cross member. In addition, when the cross memberis provided on the upper surface of the deck, the capacity of the cargo bedis reduced. In addition, in the case where the cross memberis provided on the upper surface of the deck, the deckbecomes a non-flat surface, and thus the convenience of the cargo bedis lowered. That is, in the case of the pickup truck, it is difficult to dispose the cross member between the pair of rear wheel houses.

26 34 18 26 18 18 34 18 12 26 34 18 50 52 18 10 Therefore, in the present embodiment, the absorber R/Fand the strainerare welded to the rear wheel house. As described above, the absorber R/Freinforces the rear wheel housealong the surface of the rear wheel house. The strainerconnects the rear wheel houseand the deck. By providing the absorber R/Fand the strainer, the rear wheel houseis effectively prevented from falling inward in the vehicle width direction. Accordingly, since it is not necessary to dispose the cross membersandbetween the pair of rear wheel houses, it is possible to obtain the cargo bedthat is large and easy to use.

26 34 28 30 36 38 28 30 36 38 26 34 26 34 18 Each of the absorber R/Fand the strainerhas beads,,, andextending in a direction intersecting the front-rear direction. By providing the beads,,, and, bending along the front-rear direction is less likely to occur in the absorber R/Fand the strainer. Further, since the absorber R/Fand the strainerare less likely to break, the fall of the rear wheel houseis effectively suppressed.

40 34 34 12 18 Further, in the present embodiment, the floor side memberis disposed below the strainer. With such a configuration, the rigidity of the strainerand the deckis further improved, and the tilting of the rear wheel houseis more effectively prevented.

1 26 34 Note that all of the configurations described above are examples, and other configurations may be appropriately changed as long as the configuration described in claimis provided. For example, the shape and the number of beads formed in the absorber R/Fand the strainermay be changed as appropriate.

10 12 14 16 18 18 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 33 34 36 38 40 50 52 a b cargo bed,deck,side wall,front wall,rear wheel house,circumferential surface,inner side surface,rear wheel,rear suspension,rear absorber,absorber R/F,first bead,second bead,fastening portion,weld nut,strainer,third bead,fourth bead,floor side member,cross member,upper cross member.